Biggles' Second Case/plot
Chapter 1: Aftermath of War After six monthsof inactivity, Air Commodore Raymond hands Biggles and his Air Police crew their second case. The U-517, a German submarine commanded by Captain Ulrich von Schonbeck had spent most of the Second World War operating from a secret U-boat base set up in the Southern Indian Ocean. It attacked several British ships and was known to have captured up to 5 million pounds worth of gold. After the war it had refused to surrender. It returned secretly to the Baltic to try to make contact with any remaining Nazi leaders. Having failed to do so, Ulrich next planned to fetch the gold and then head for Chile where the crew hoped to join a German colony. Biggles and his men are asked to find the submarine and retrieve the gold. Chapter 2: Biggles Asks Some Questions As Ulrich's secret depot was believed to be on one of the several remote islands in the Southern Indian Ocean and the gold was probably buried in the same area, a Royal Navy supply vessel, the Tern had been sent ahead to establish a base on the island of Kerguelen for Biggles and his team. Chapter 3: Von Schonbeck Strikes First Flying out in two Tarpon amphibians, Biggles and co. arrive at their base on Kerguelen. The Tern departs but doesn't go very far when it encounters the U-517 and is sunk by a torpedo. Chapter 4: Biggles Looks Round Biggles, Ginger and Bertie make a reconnaissance of Kerguelen. They spot a whaler heading southeast on a course that originated somewhere on the southern tip of the island. Back at base camp, Algy reports hearing a lot of two way radio traffic in code. It has to be from von Schonbeck but who could he have been talking to? The whaler's behaviour was suspicious. It seemed to be leaking a lot of oil and it ignored the presence of a school of whales near it. Chapter 5: The Whaler Biggles and Ginger take off and soon locate the whaler. The ship suddenly and suspiciously changes course when seeing them. Biggles traces its trail of oil backwards and finds at the origin a small, well-hidden cove on Kerguelen itself. The many buildings indicate this was von Schonbeck's secret base or a back-up depot but now largely abandoned. Suddenly there is an explosion. A wild boar has triggered a bomb! They will have to be careful about booby traps! Chapter 6: Tragedy Ashore Picking their way through potential dangers, they find a large concrete oil-tank, now nearly empty. Near the base they find the dead bodies of two Norwegian seamen, including one Sven Honritzen. What's happened becomes clear to Biggles. The whaler was a legitimate Norwegian vessel but von Schonbeck had captured it to use as a tender. Those who resisted had been shot. When the Tern arrived, von Schonbeck must have decided he could not continue operating from his base at Kerguelen. He had refuelled his submarine and pulled out. The whaler had been used to transport as much excess oil as it could carry, hence the large oil leak in its wake. Chapter 7: Ditched After updating Algy and Bertie, Biggles and Ginger set off to locate the U-517. Following the course of the whaler, they reach Corbie Island and discover the submarine there moored to the rocks in a cove! Biggles attacks it with his depth charges but only manages near misses. The submarine responds with anti-aircraft fire and severely damages the aircraft. Biggles only just manages to put down the crippled plane on an ice berg. Their radio has been shot up so they can't call Algy. In any case he would never find them in the thick fog which now shrouds the area. Chapter 8: Algy Takes a Hand Biggles and Ginger are overdue, so Algy and Bertie take off in search of them. They spot the burnt out wreck of Biggles' Tarpon on a floe at the tip of a large iceberg. It looks like the plane has been hit by anti-aircraft fire. There is blood on the floe. In the distance they see two polar bears and decide it is no use searching further for bodies. Chapter 9: What Happened on the Ice In actual fact, Biggles and Ginger had been captured by German sailors from the whaler and taken to Corbie Island to meet von Schonbeck. Von Schonbeck wants to know what other forces are searching for him and gives them until the next day to talk. Chapter 10: Algy Carries On Algy and Bertie spot and pick up five Norwegian sailors led by Axel Prinz. They had landed on an iceberg to hunt seals and had seen their ship being captured by a submarine. They also saw their whaler at the iceberg where Biggles had landed. There was a chance that Biggles and Ginger were alive and had been captured! At Kerguelen, Algy plans a night mission to Corbie Island. Biggles and Ginger were likely to be there. The Norwegians know that island well and are keen to join forces. Chapter 11: Cut and Thrust At Corbie Island, Biggles and Ginger watch as the depth charge damage to the submarine is repaired and the gold is loaded. In the morning, Biggles is taken to von Schonbeck. As he still refuses to talk, Thom, the first lieutenant prepares a firing squad to execute him. Chapter 12: Ginger Starts Something A Norwegian seaman secretly releases Ginger from his locked cabin and takes him to the bow of the whaler. He urges Ginger to escape. But Ginger spots the harpoon gun and has an idea. He fires it at the firing squad. The harpoon kills Thom and disrupts the execution. Simultaneously, Algy and his Norwegian allies launch an attack from inland. Norwegian crew on the whaler also rise up and overpower their German guards. Von Schonbeck flees to the submarine and makes for the open sea. Bertie bombs the escaping submarine but, again, only scores near misses. Biggles asks the Norwegians to sail the whaler to Kerguelen where they would regroup. Chapter 13: Von Schonbeck Tries Again Algy and Bertie take off from Kerguelen to look for the whaler which is late arriving at their Kerguelen base. They find it nearby, heavily damaged. She had tried to ride out some bad weather in a cove at the southern tip of the island only to discover that von Schonbeck and his submarine was there! He had come back to his Kerguelen depot and had been trying to drawn some oil from the oil tank there. Chapter 14: The Pace Quickens At all costs, Biggles must prevent the submarine reaching the open sea again. He takes off with his entire crew to attack the U-517. Algy is dropped off at the whaler first with instructions to bring it to the cove and sink it at the entrance as a block ship. Biggles bombs the submarine, scoring near misses which damage it. The task is completed by the whaler which is sunk at the entrance, sealing von Schonbeck in. The U-517 has no choice but to return to its mooring. But the Tarpon has also been damaged by anti-aircraft fire so Biggles lands on a clifftop near the cove entrance, to be joined there by Algy and the whaler crew. The Tarpon is repaired and Biggles sends Algy back to their base to radio Raymond for help. Chapter 15: The Clock That Ticked Again Observing from the clifftop, the submarine appears far too quiet. So Biggles leads a scouting party and soon discovers why. The submarine had been booby-trapped and they narrowly escape being blown up with it! Von Schonbeck must have moved inland with his men, taking the gold with him. Chapter 16: Biggles Offers Terms Algy returns with Raymond's cryptic instruction: stand by. Biggles takes off to track down von Schonbeck. He offers the German a chance to surrender but is turned down. Biggles lands with Bertie and Ginger to cuts off the submarine crew's progress inland. A protracted gun battle between the two groups gradually whittle's von Schonbeck's party until he is left alone. He attempts to run but steps into a bog and drowns. Chapter 17: Clean-Up on Kerguelen Back at their base, Biggles is surprised to see Raymond, who has arrived in an aircraft carrier, the Vega to take the Air Police crew and their Norwegian allies home. Category:Plot summaries